Steering cable slips

[bobross]

I have a 21' center console from the 1980s. The steering gear gave out (bunch of teeth missing/chipped on internal gear.) It is a Teleflex (Sea Star) Big T. I bought a lightly used Big T on Ebay, and a new cable. When everything is hooked up, it works when the wheel is turned counter clockwise (pulls the cable in/ turns the motor to starboard), but when the wheel is turned clockwise (pushes the cable out/turns the motor to post) about the time the motor gets centered the cable slips within the helm. the shaft from the steering wheel turns but the cable does not move. It will pull but not push.
The used helm I bought looks almost new, but I haven't disassembled it to see if there is anything wrong inside.

Am I missing anything?

thanks for your opinions

 

[dwco5051]

Does the motor turn smoothly with the cable disconnected? Was it connected with the wheel in straight ahead and the motor the same way?
Are there any sharp low radius bends in the cable?

 

[bobross]

I took apart the "new" helm. There is that ribbed groove in which the cable with its spiral grooves runs. The ribbed groove appears that the grooves are worn down. Compared to the old one that I replaced, which has more distinct grooves with sharp edges, compared to the flatter and rounded off grroves of the "new" one.

With the "new" one, when I turned it without the motor being hooked jup, it worked better (skipped less). When the motor was hooked up, I think the additional load caused it to skip more when it was pushing the motor. (Yes, the motor turns freely).

I think I just need to buy a new helm rather than a used Ebay helm.

 

[Scott Danforth]

But a new helm and cable kit vs piecemealing it

 

[bobross]

Scott Dansforth for the win!

I took the gear with the good grooves and stuck it in the helm unit that had the gear with the worn down grooves, and it worked fine. So my theory about why it was slipping bears out. However, even though it works now, that "good" gear is 35 years old. Time to go ahead and buy a new helm.

Buying used parts on Ebay is always a risk. I have had some good luck getting hard to source parts for some old motorcycles, etc., and hoped it would continue here. Apparently not.